Homemade Veggie Burgers

I am always on the hunt for lunch ideas to eat at the office. My last idea was wrap sandwiches and that worked out great for a while. On our plane back from D.C. this week, I bought a Martha Stewart publication "Whole Living". It is like "Living" but without the crafts and with more of a focus on health. I read in the magazine about quinoa and kidney beans veggie burgers. I am always looking for ways to use up things in our pantry, and if I can turn things we just have sitting around into healthy and readily available lunches, than my week is all the better. I didn't follow the recipe exactly. After a bit of Googling I found this recipe, and it seemed a bit like making meatballs only with vegetarian ingredients. I cooked up some red quinoa we purchased at the NutBox in Brooklyn (love that place). I cooked up some kidney beans we got way back from our CSA in the fall. I cut off some scallions from my totally awesome scallion plant I got from my friend Jessica at the food swap. I sauteed some garlic, sweet peppers, and the scallions and stirred that into the red quinoa, and beans, and added some eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and homemade hot sauce. You want it wet enough to come together but not too, too sticky. If it is too dry or sticky you can add more eggs or bread crumbs. I formed them into balls and crushed them into patties. Then, 400 degrees for about 20 minutes in the oven or until they looked drier, not sticky, and held together. And voila!

 
I was vegetarian when I was a teenager (so was my sister), and my mother would always complain how expensive veggie burgers were. Well, I am here to tell you that they are not hard to make and can use very cheap ingredients like beans, eggs, and grains. Now I can eat them in sandwiches with a bit of mayo, lettuce and tomato, or I can just heat them up and eat them on their own. I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer, so I'll never have a moment where I don't have anything to eat for lunch at work. A little bit brilliant if I do say so myself!